Joyce Polance

Joyce Polance currently lives and works in Chicago. Her recent paintings are figurative and executed in oil. Born in New York City in 1965, Polance holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York. She also attended Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut. Polance is a five-time grantee of the CAAP Grant from the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs, as well as a recipient of a Cliff Dwellers’ Artist in Residence Award, two Judith Dawn Memorial Fund Grants and a George Sugarman Foundation Grant. Her work has been featured in the Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun-Times and Chicago Reader and featured as part of the Central States edition of American Art Collector, published in the fall of 2005. Her work is also featured on the Artfem.TV website, published in Austria. Polance’s paintings are held in private and corporate collections including Commonwealth Edison, Deloitte, The University Club of Chicago, Barack Ferrazzano Kirschbaum & Nagelberg LLP, and the Illinois Institute of Art. She has had solo exhibits in Chicago and the Midwest, and is represented by Addington Gallery in Chicago and Blue Gallery in Three Oaks, Michigan. Her paintings can be viewed at www.joycepolance.com

I depict women who are emerging from negative patterns - breaking free from limitations and embracing awareness and freedom. The most recent pieces also explore the complexities (sexual tension, anger, loneliness, tenderness) that ensue as women engage in relationships that speak to both original and substitute families. Both the large size of the women and the thick, layered paint are meant to create an arresting visual presence echoing the internal strength of the figures. I paint the women naked to suggest their willingness to change and be vulnerable while simultaneously embracing their sexuality and bodies. The women take ownership of both their femininity and their power.